Feeding mechanism for manure-spreaders.



H, sYNcK a B ROLLMAN. FEEDING MECHANISM FOR NIANURE SPREADERS.

APPLICATION FiLED MAY 16, 1916.

` I @nvm/wom l Een@ SJ/fzclf,

Bruce lollmafu.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE. f

HENRY SYNCK AND BRUCE B. ROLLMAN, OF COLDWATER, OHIO, AS'SIG'ITOR T0 NEW IDEA SPREADER C0., F COJIDWAIII'IR., OHIO.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR MANRE-SIE'REAIJEBS.

A BRUCE B. ROLLMAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Coldwater, in the county of Mercer and State of Ohio, have invented certain ne-w and useful Improvements' in Feeding Mechanism for Manure-Spreaders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for feeding the-cnnveyer of. a manure spreader so that the loaievill be carried to the pulverizer cylinder or beaters, the object of the invention bi-ngto provide a simple and efficient mechanism-by which any desired -feed of the conveyer` may be effected and back motion of the same positively pres,

vented. l

A further object of the invention is to provide novel means whereby the feeding mechanism maybe thrown out of action when desired without stopping the operation of the pulverizer or, beater, and a still further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the remnants of a load may bedischarged even though the pulverizer may be at rest.

A still further object of the invention 'is to provide means whereby the parts may be readily adjusted to compensate for wear.

All the several' stated objectsl and such other incidental objects as will appear from the following description are attained in the mechanism' illustrated in the accompanying drawings and the invention resides in certain novel features which will be particu larly pointed out in 4the claims following'the description.' r.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of somuch of a manure spreader body or Wagon as is necessary for a disclosure -of our improvements; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the front end of the Wagon body; Fig. 3 is a .plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1.; Fig. 4 is an elevation of a modification; Fig. 5 is a similar 'view showin a'further modification; Fi". 6 is a detail perspective view of one of t e feeding dogs.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 1 indicates a portion of a wagon body which "isemployed to contain the load in manure spreaders and the bottom of which consists of an endless apron or similar form' of conveyerl Iactuated bysprocket chains, a portion of one of which is seen 'at 2 in Fig. 1,whieh Specification of Letters Patent.

Application'led May 16, 1916. Serial No. 97,882.

-uponthe'axle 5 and diametrically opposite sufiicient for all'ordinary purposes.

Patented Nov. 21, 191e.

are secured to the side edges of the aprony and engage sprocket wheels on a shaftfwhich 1s mounted in suitable bearings ati the rear end of the wagon body. Upon this shaft' 3 at one side ofthe body is secured a ratchet wheel 4 which is actuated b mechanlsm mounted upon the side of t ebody and operated from the rear axle 5 to iin'- part an intermittent/'motion to the apron or conveyer. The axle 5 is mounted in suitable bearings upon the wagon body and ex-l tends transversely below the same and between the upper and l'ower runs of the conveyer, the ground wheelsl being mounted upon the axle and adapted to actuate the sa me through an ordinary escapement which isj'indicated at 6A 'in dot'ted lines. By meansof this escap'ement, the ground wheels .will rotate the axle' as the machine is drawn forward over the field but -will slip around the axle without actuating the same if the ma chine be backed. The esca-pement also permits one wheel to travel faster than t'llo' other in turning corners so that the move: ment of the axle will be uniform.

In carrying out our present invention, Wersecure upon the axle 5 a lurality of cams 7 which consist of castings aving hub members equipped to be keyed or otherwise fixed cam arms projecting radially from the hub 4.

members; While any desired number of these cams may be provided, we have found two cams placed as shown in the accompanying drawings with their working arms disposed at right angles to each other tJo bev pon the side of the wagon body, above the axle,

we secure a bracket' or casting 8 having a lateral pin 9 proectin therefrom and upon this pin we pivotally irl-ng oscillatory ariis or -levers 10 which depend from the said pin in the planes ofthe respective cams 7./ The' lower ends of these lever arms -hre recessed y.

to receive rollers 11 which ride upon t'he i105) 'surfaces of the radially projecting arms of. the cams 7 so that, as the cams rotate, the 1 said lever arms will be osc'illated without excessive frictlon or unnecessary.' .weer

Upon the sides of each of vsaid levers,` atf the lower ends thereof,` we provide perforated lu 12 to which we pivotaily attach the ront ends of the b ars 13 which form parts'of the actuating dogs. The 'dogs'. 14 may be formed integral with.the rear compensating for weer upon the parte.

45 understood that the pawls ends of the bars 13 so that the said bars will forni the shrinks oi? the dogs, hut we prefer to construct these members as illustrated moet clearly in Fig, (l, in which thiY dogs 14 are shown as consisting oi' plates provided Withy longitudinal slots .lo 'to rc ceive securing bolts 'lo carried "oy the Shanks or bars 13 whereby the dogs may he ad justed longitudinally olf the shanlts, thor ry "ll'ie forward end of 'the dos; upturncd, shown atflf's", and au angular bracket 155 ie rigidly secured 'einen the elianliladjacent but, -in spaced relation to the said initurned 15 end 17. A bolt 19 is inserted through and carried by the nracket'll and the upturneiil end 17 and liners or Washers 20 are 'titte-d around the holt between the said members 17 and 18 so that, by loi-ing the washers 20 or liners, or insertingadditional waehers or liners, the pointot the dog 1.4 may lle at any desired distance from the pivotal e point of the har 13, This adjuste'nlity of' the dei/ice is desirable to accounts,datt unevennesses or inequalities giiroduved in the process of casting some of the members so that, Without involving heavy expense in the manufacture of the mechanism, a very accurate andv smoothly operating apparatus ma beproduoed.

he freeends of the dogs play through and are supported and guided by brackets 21 secu-red on-the side of the wagon body 1., .as clearly shown'in Figs. l end 8, and theseguides may-be of any preferred construetionl To prevent retrograde movement oi' the ratchet Wheel 4 and the conveyor., we provide holding dogs or 'parels 532 which ere pivotallyV mounted upon a. bracket 3.3 se

40 cured'on the side of the Wagon body, edile centthe ratchet wheel, so es to engage the teeth' thereof. These' holding dogs or parvis may be provided inany desired ru'uulieif, 'hut ordinarily two will ce su'l'lieient, it hei 5 will ige of nii'- equallength. The differente in length o'l the dogs 22 will preferably he equal to one- V half'the distance 'between the points adj cent ratchet teeth so that it will be 'possible to stop backward movement of the conveyor at the'end-of each peri-od of movement equal to onehalf the 'spacing of the teeth. Ape 'proximate'lyghy this arrangement, there is 'always one 'dog in engagement with a tooth of the ratchet'wheel so that retrograde move- .ment'of the conveyercannot occur in any degree. This result may be accentuated by using a'gifeater number of 'holding dogs and having 4the difference in the length of the 50 sai'iiel more' minute.

. It `will bereadily 'noted that the guide 21 prevents.lateralfm-ovement of" the feeding partis 'landitlis guide may be also utilized as n.' guide and supportffor the rear extremity ol the adjusting memberlliwjlhe said meme engage the lower' endsof the l a hand lover and has its 'rorjll extremity phot-filly tormented with an arm 3U le i ni u rock shaft ill liar .it the trent il oi' the hotly aim. constituting the ful olf a foon lever or treadle 533. Stop rollers lf are. srrured upon the rod 27 in iront and in rear of the ring or lsleeve 28 and a elimine' is oiled around the rod be- 2 y; collar Bit and the front curl rf the sleeve tF-L .The lever t/Sl is tulorumefi up 'n the side oi" the wagon lrody l'setivetn its ends and equipped at itl up fitli a. latch 15G adapted to engage a j f v .d upon the body ailyef.. nl.' lire levi-ir and n;exit1.f f with the fulcruzo of the suine. The member "Z4 passes oste-'een the lei/ers l() and provided upon its sides with. retaining loops or guides 38 which around the, said levers, es will be readily understood upon reference to Figs. 1 and The forward ends oi the retaining loops or guides 88" are closed so that if the member 2li he shifted rearwardly, the said tor-ward ends of the loops will be brought close to the respective levers 10 and thereby limit the forward move-nient of the saine. it will thus lie readily understood that the throw the loyers and of the feed penls carried thereby, may he very easllt" 'ed readily regulated and if the bar be 'il rearwardly to its full extent the yill be held beyond the paths of the so that they will not oe operated and i'rvey'er will not feed. To obtain accor .in the adjustment, wellas to com pensa-te for 'weer or roughness or inequality. in the castings, We mount setscrews@ in the forward ends of the retaining loops ,38, which are adapted to project into the path of' movement of the leversl() and thereby4 arrest the forward swing of the same, as Wm readily understood. l

it is thought the operation of our imr proved mechanism `Will be readily under-, stood from .what has gone before. When spreading of the fertilizer is about to be,` gin, the lever 29 is adjusted so that the levers 10 will be set to permit such adjustment of.

the feeding pe'wls es will Vimpart to the con veyer the required speed to 'accomplish-the. proper feeding ofthe load. As the machine is then drawn over the field, the cams 7 will levers 10` and i oscillate the same and the feedingY j:pawls whereby intermittent movement o the yriiteliet- Wheel i will be eieeted. Vhen the adjusting member 24 is moved rearwardly, the forward movement of the levers 10 will obviously be limited by the front edges of said levers coming into contact with the front ends of the retaining loops or guides 38 and, consequently, the lower ends of the levers will not engage the cams as close to the hubs thereof as when the member 24 is in its extreme forward position. lt will be readily noted that the spring 35 tends to hold the sleeve 28 against the rear stop collar 34 and, consequently, if the lever 29 be swung forward t'o the front end of the segment 37, the feeding mechanism will be held inoperative so that the machine may be moved from one field to another field or may be driven back to the barn to be reloaded-without causing any movement of the conveyer and unnecessary wear upon the working parts is thus avoided.

lVhen the machine is in operation and distributing fertilizer, the lever 29 is permitted to remain at rest in the position to which it has been adjusted and should itthen be desired to temporarily stop the feeding, as at the end of the field when turning or when reaching a' place where fertilizer is not needed or desired, the foot lever 33 is pressed downwardly, thereby swinging the arm 30 rearwardly and, conseqllently, pushing the connecting rod 27 rearwardly, the said rod sliding through the sleeve 28, as will be readily understood. The movement of the rod 27 will be transmitted directly tothe bar 24 and, consequently, 4the retaining loops 38 will b e caused to hold the levers 10 out of enga ement with the cams 7 so that the feeding wil not take place. When it is desired to againfeed, the treadle 33 is released and the spring 35 will at once expand and return the parts to their former positions. It will be understood, of course, that the pulverizing and. distributing'r elements are controlled independently of the feeding mechanism and, consequently, the ulverizing-and distribut- 4 ing members may e stopped when the load is about exhausted while the conveyer Vmay continue to operate so that the remnants of the load which may be left upon the con-V veyer will be carried out of the machine. It is also possible to st'op the machine and while it is at rest discharge 'the few rem' nants of the load by merely working the treadle 33 up and down a few times. It will also be noted that the rapidity of the feeding may be changed and accurately regu- --lated without stopping the tra-vel of the machine over the field,inasmuch as this is accomplished by setting the lever 29 which is disposed at the front end of the machine where it may be conveniently reached by the right hand of the driver. It' will be noted that at each revolution of the axle or driving shaft to which the cams are secured, the ratchet wl'reel will be4 moved four times,- in

the arrangement illustrated, so that the load will be .fed rapidly to the beaters and the intervals of rest will be just long enough to permit the beater teeth to properly take into and disintegrate the portion of the load immediately adjacent the same.

It may sometimes be desirable not to have the points of the feeding pawls carried directly by the oscillating levers, as in the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 1 and heretofore described. ln Fig. 4, we illustrate an arrangement in which the dogs or feeding. pawls 40 are pivoted upon the levers 41 near the upper ends thereof, said levers being mounted upon the shaft 42 of the conveyer and links 43 being interposed between the upper ends of the levers 4l andthe oscillatory levers 44, which correspond to the levers 10, and are'actuated by cams 45'. In this arrangement, the pawls will operate directly over the ratchet wheel and no part of the weight of the same is carried by the guide 46 or by the ratchet wheel, the levers 41 serving to transfer the weight to the shaft 42.

In Fig. 5 we illustrate a. further modification in which the two feeding pawls 47 and48 are arranged in the same vertical 'end pivoted to a three-armed lever 53 fulcrumed upon the side of the wagon body in rear of the lever 50 and lthe downwardly and 105 rearwardly extending arms of this lever 53 carry sleeves 54 and 55 respectively, through which pass rods 56 and 57 extending respe'c* tivelyto the levers' 51 and 50 to which they are attached. Stops 58 are vprovided upon .110l

these rods and adapted to be engaged by the sleeves 54 and 55, as will be readily understood. 'In this arrangement, the adjusting rod 52 will be drawn forward to arrest or regulate the feeding, the forward movement 115 of the rod serving to swing the lever 53 about its vfulcrum so that the sleeves 54 and 55 will engage against the collars 58 and thereby draw upon the levers 50 and 51 so as to 'hold the operating ends of the same at the -120 desired distance from the hub of the. cam member.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1.v In mechanism for the purpose 'set forth, 125 the combination of a ratchet wheel, a feeding pawl engaging said ratchet wheel, an oscillatory lever connected at its free end with said paWL'Vmeans for actuating lsaid leven'an adjusting member, a retaining loop 130 l urmind ifm: p m um: mu n?" the, n :r of feedingpa ada? we )MWL und tiamrxxmuus. fm' mms-ing Said bar if; muv.' thv {mw} to an inoperative posi tim: nfvymnlivfy'h' nf thv means fur Sfbting H111 mm t4. ln. mechanism for the purpose set forth, he cfaxnurmiun 0i :l rntche Wheel, a feeding paw! engaging the rntch; Wheel, an adjusting; bur arranged to regulate tha-throw of the: mwlg u hand lever having a slduble qon zwctcm with the :mid azlinsting bar, means m er if: a, positifm? smp MEMS d msing; baz at opposite :-'`.f22g @mum-ation mween 'the ezai] lm i', jp 'iiuue means :1ctnf Said fe'iu' fr holding the pstim., and a mok wi'fh said bai? to act on the seams@ ginss. ik@ forca of said ,yeldabe means independently nf the said lever t0 move heeeding bm? an inoperative p0- sfsion.

9, 11 mechanism-fm' tha parlasse set forth, the combination of a ratchet Wheel, a feeding mmpriang shawl@ a. xedbracket on im: slm.k, wf slidgeby mounted on the shank @mi engaging ik@ mia-het Wheel, and im adjustaba cnmcton hfslwean said tooth ami aha mmacket; v

a infacket on Said l mgmna im he and of the amd. h@ and n??? ih@ moth, and spacersaround in testimony whereof! wa affix our signa;-

m'fes.

HENRY www [L S. BRUCE RGLLMAN: [11. s. 

